


feathers can be just as heavy as steel

by Hereinmidnightcity



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Fluff, Teammates being supportive of one another, bonding after not great results? you betcha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:54:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27335998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hereinmidnightcity/pseuds/Hereinmidnightcity
Summary: Even though they hadn’t been teammates for long, Nicholas was able to read the Brit like a book. And he knew what would be going through George's mind after the race so of course he was going to try to help.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	feathers can be just as heavy as steel

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!!! The race today made me so happy and yet sad because of Daniel and George's results respectively. I got inspired with Nicky and George cause I love their dynamic so there's this. Yes I wrote this to make me happy. Yes I want George to be happy too even though he DNFed. So... yeah. This is what my brain came up with.
> 
> My general disclaimer: if you or someone you know is in this please hit that back button!!!! Any and all mistakes are mine. Enjoy!

George heard the knock on his door while he was packing and shook his head.

“Don’t wanna talk! I’ll see you in the briefing,” the Brit snapped back. Instead of hearing a response, he only heard silence.

Finally! George was thrilled someone respected his wishes for privacy… until the door started to creak open.

“I told you I don’t—” George whipped around to see the intruder and was instead caught off-guard seeing his teammate, Nicholas. Guilt set in immediately upon seeing the Canadian and George quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else,” George told him and Nicholas only shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t really feel like talking.” Nicky nodded again, taking note of how red George’s eyes were.

“What are you doing? What’s behind your back?” George quickly asked, quickly becoming agitated with his teammate.

The Brit rolled his eyes and shook his head. He was fed up with everything and everyone so he was going to turn back around until Nicholas revealed a plate of watermelon.

George, as much as he tried to fight it, couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto his face upon seeing the gift.

“Fine. You’ve won me over,” The young driver replied before taking the plate and plopping onto his couch.

Nicholas smiled and revealed his own treat: a jar of Nutella and a spoon to dive in. He hopped up on the massage table across from where George was sitting and scooted back until he was flush against the wall.

“You know, with this much watermelon, it seems like you might’ve stolen from hospitality. Didn’t think you were up to it.”

That was a good sign of light banter returning to George.

“You know you’re doing an awful lot of talking for someone who said he doesn’t want to talk.”

“So technical, Nicholas.”

That was a better sign. George’s sarcasm was kicking into full gear and Nicholas smirked.  
Even though they hadn’t been teammates for long, Nicholas was able to read the Brit like a book. George rarely got mad. Sure, agitated, aggravated, irritated. Pull out a thesaurus and he had probably experienced every emotion similar to mad.

But, on the rare occasion when he did get truly mad, there was no sarcasm. There was usually anger that accompanied, as fury and anger happened to be best friends. Teammates almost. But then again, optimism and happiness were another pair of teammates and ones that Nicholas knew well.

Pressure was a hell of a weight to carry on your own. Nicholas knew this but figured it out one day as he listened to George talk to someone from Mercedes about some incident that had happened when he was karting.

There were times that Nicholas saw the pressure fade. The pressure lifted from George’s shoulders, if only for a minute. It was as if over the years more and more people placed feathers on George’s shoulders. Every once in a while he’d do something and some feathers would fall away but they’d always be replaced.

Nicholas struggled with what, if anything, he could do to take some of those feathers away. But what could someone do to take pressure away from the future World Driver’s Champion and Mister Saturday?

No, Nicholas couldn’t fully take the pressure away. But he could take a few feathers away. Make it a little lighter for his friend.

“Before you say anything,” George started, breaking Nicholas out of his train of thought, “I’m not okay ‘cause it was my fault. But I will be okay so I don’t need a pep talk.”

“Okay, good. Glad to hear you’ll be okay,” Nicholas said, as always returning the compliment with a smile to his teammate.

“Wait, that’s it? Nothing else? No ‘George! Don’t be so hard on yourself!’ or something from King Optimism himself?”

“I believe you are the one who said you didn’t want to talk.”

“I did say that, didn’t I,” George said with a smile and a chuckle. He waited a moment, thought some more and ate more watermelon before mumbling.

“Some kind of hypocrite I am.”

“All right, now comes the pep talk. I know you didn’t mean it seriously but you’ve gotta stop tearing yourself down. It’s not going to lead you anywhere good. After all, it was an okay race for us today!”

“Yeah for you maybe!”

“I believe you were on pace to get your first point, today, right?”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Okay, but, that means it's possible. It was a shit accident, sure. But, you being on track for points means that you can do it again. You can be on track for a point and hell, maybe more than just one. It’s possible and today just proved that.

“And I know, I know it sucks more than anything to have it secure in your hands and then lose it. And I’m sorry for that. But George, today was good because you proved that you’re right where you should be and those points are coming sooner than we know.”

Nicholas watched as his teammate digested the words and the food. As analytical as George was, this was just one more thing that he needed to think over.

And that was fine for Nicholas. He knew that George would need to take time and there was no way that he would believe it immediately. But, it would hopefully be a start. It would be one more feather taken off the stack. Maybe two, if Nicholas was lucky enough.

“It was a good race for you, though,” George said, once again pulling Nicky out of his thoughts.

“It was. It was fun to finally run up there with the hot shots.”

“Hey, if i’m on pace then so are you,” George noted, waving the piece of watermelon on his stick towards his older teammate.

“You think once you get points you could stop taking shirtless pictures? Maybe that’s why you haven’t scored any before,” Nicholas joked, knowing he pushed all the right buttons.

“Why– no, okay, they certainly aren’t the issue. I look fantastic in them. Obviously you’re just jealous of my chiseled abs.” Another feather… gone.

“You mean your dehydrated abs?” George scoffed.

“I hydrate plenty, thank you! Look at the watermelon I’m eating! Hydration.”

“Not enough,” Nicholas said with his trademark smile.

“It’s a good thing you’re not my trainer,” George replied before shoving another piece of watermelon in his mouth. He smiled, though. More feathers… gone.

“Oh yeah, that’s a blessing for sure. I couldn’t put up with you then!”

The two continued to bicker as they snacked and switched from topic to topic. Nicholas knew it was just a distraction but it was good enough for now. Someone would be by later and place more feathers on George’s shoulder but for now there was less weight on his shoulders and Nicky would take that any day.

(He might just take those feathers and make them into a pillow to knock some sense into George later but that was for him to know and George to find out.)

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments make my day :D
> 
> Go find me on tumblr and yell at me about the fast cars: @jeeperslatifi


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